The following article was in yesterday’s “New York Times.” Although it uses Elizabeth Warren’s recent DNA reveal and accompanying news stories as an example, don’t let your political beliefs stop you from reading. This story is actually about all of us. One of the salient points is that many of us are “doing the math” wrong because we misunderstand what’s actually pretty simple science. What we may think — that each parent contributes 50% of our DNA, our grandparents 25% and so forth on back — isn’t correct. And the author makes the point that “our genetic code cannot be treated as a matter of simple fractions.” That math is wrong. The things that jumped out at me are 1. the title of this piece, quoting Dr. Coop of University of California, Davis: “Genetics is not genealogy” and 2. “DNA is not a liquid [i.e. “blood”] that can be divided into microscopic drops. It’s a stringlike molecule….” We know those things, of course, but still…. I think you’ll find the brief article an interesting, helpful read as you research.

Thanks to researcher Linda Logan Blanchard, we have an excellent compilation of Zadock Packard Logan’s Civil War service to share with you. In addition, Linda includes information about Zadock P. Logan’s siblings: C. Sylvanus Logan (who was hanged by the Confederate army), Israel Logan, Jasper Newton Logan, and Milberry Logan Heathcock as well as Zadock Packard Logan’s brothers-in-law. Even if you’re not of Zadock P. Logan’s line, this is extremely interesting reading in terms of what the Civil War was really like in an area with contested loyalties which is what this area of Arkansas was.

Some of this is in “Logan Connections,” but certainly not in this detail and not pulled together so comprehensively. A welcome addition. Thanks so much, Linda.

Zadock Packard Logan
Civil War History

“I deny ever being a volunteer in the confederate service. I Boldly opposed Secession and held out for the union until the Rebles got power and went to Schooting and hanging union men. Then I went to what was called Mcnears [McNair’s] Regiment for protection to save my life. Stayed there until times cooled Down and went home. Then came Jim Wooseleys Battalian. Came and took me and put me in what was called Recktars [Rector] Regiment of conscripts. From that I took chances with others to make it through the lines and while my Brother and 4 other men was caught and hung to the Same poll. I got through. whether the government treats me Right or not. I have and ever will be for the union.” Zadock’s affidavit of Jul 27, 1897 for his pension application. [I put in the periods, but will leave his spelling the way he wrote it.]

“A strong Unionist tradition had always existed in the mountainous regions of northwestern Arkansas, but by late 1862 and 1863 resistance to the Confederate authority was strongest in southwestern Arkansas, especially in the region south and west of the Saline River.” (DeBlack, 2003, p.75-78) Sebastian County, where the Logans lived in the 1850’s and 1860’s, is sometimes included in the northwest and sometimes the southwest.

“Arkansas is best described as a frontier when the war began. . . Its mountains in the northwest part of the state represented the edge of a frontier and were home to a crude, illiterate, volatile, and hard-fisted yeomanry living a in a subsistence-level economy that shared little with those in the regions below them. Even in areas south of the Ozarks a large population felt a persistent attachment to the union. . . Arkansas contributed fourteen white regiments [to the Union] more than 8000 troops.” (Weitz, 2005, p.22-24)

Zaddoc P. Logan mustered in Aug 17, 1861 a Camp Etter near Mt. Vernon, MO for 12 months. It was called Capt. Erwins Infantry, South Ark. Region. This infantry subsequently became Co C, 4th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry. The National Archives overview states “4th (McNair’s) Infantry Regiment [also called Southwestern Arkansas Regiment] assembled at Miller’s Springs, Lawrence County, Arkansas, recruited its companies in Calhoun, Hempstead, Lafayette, Montgomery, Pike, and Polk counties.” A second muster card says Zadock enlisted Oct 21, 1861 at Fort Smith, but it was not stated whether he was present. A third states he enlisted at Camp Etter, Mo from Feb 28-June 30, 1862, but not known if he was present.

On the muster card dated Feb 28, 1862, the remark is “on furlough from Jan 17, 1862 to Feb 17, 1862. . .+ so on roll”. The Battle of Pea Ridge or Elkhorn Tavern took place on Mar 6-7, 1862. It is doubtful that Zadock was in this battle. The running battles and skirmishes preceding this would have been while he was on furlough. The card for Aug 31-Oct 31, 1862 states he was absent and the remarks say “West Miss”. The 4th Arkansas Infantry was at the Battle of Richmond, KY in late August, 1862 and continued to be east of the Mississippi for the rest of the war. This validates Zadock’s statement that he went home as soon as he could.

Jasper Newton Logan probably was at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Rivers’ Battery Light Artillery. On the muster card dated Nov 8, 1862 he was listed as absent. In the remarks, it said, “left sick in Ark. April [1862?] Not heard from since.” Desertions from hospitals were very common.

” in 1862 I think I was conscripted into Thom Hinemans [Thomas Hindman] Confederate army they made me take a gun and Drill twice a day. Such was the kind of Service that I done. I considered my Self a prisoner in the Reble army. after a short time I made my escape and got to the federal army. . . Now about my name. I claim my name to be Zaddock Packard Logan. my father dide when I was young. the Record of his childrens names was Burned in my mothers house. I may have at sum time written my name with one d or Some one may have. . . I will say that I am not trying to defraud nor cheat. if the government Dont owe me a pension I dont want it. all though an invalid I am not a Beging nor claiming that Dont belong to me if I know it. I can Laugh it on the end. it cant be Long… Zaddock P. Logan as it appears on my army Discharge. I have an Honorable Discharge from the Service of the united States in my home. I further state that I was assigned to what was called major Woosleys Battalian. Bill Witcher was captain in the Confederate army State of Ark”[Major James Woolsey and Capt. William J. Witcher were in the 34th AR Regiment]. This statement is from Zadock’s affidavit of Aug 5, 1896 for his pension application.

The growing disaffection of the people for the war was attributed to a variety of factors; a food shortage brought on by drought, spiraling inflation, the failure to pay or adequately provision soldiers, and discontent with the Confederacy’s conscription laws, particularly the provision that exempted one white man for every twenty slaves on each plantation.” (DeBlack, 2003, p. 76.) “From the beginning those who fought for the Confederacy came to see themselves as poor men who were having to fight a war to benefit rich men. Their own opportunities were being squandered in a conflict that had no goal other than the protection of slavery. Their fight was not only with conscription but also with the ruling class.” (DeBlack, 2003, p.78) In addition “civilians suffered from food shortages caused by poor harvests in 1861 and 1862 that were augmented by the insistence of Arkansas farmers to grow more profitable cotton rather than desperately needed staples. A cholera epidemic dramatically thinned the state’s hog population, and a critical shortage of salt made it difficult to preserve what pork was available. . . These miserable conditions continued west into Indian Territory, where many Cherokee and Creek soldiers were leaving Confederate service and joining Union forces.” (Christ, 2010, p, 38) The plantation owners refused to grow wheat and corn and take care of the subsistence farmers, who were fighting the war, and more importantly the families of those farmers. “Shortages of food and necessities, extortion, conscription and the inability of a society strongly based on a semi-subsistence agriculture to continue in the absence of its male workforce all weakened the Confederate cause, and these same elements contributed to desertion. (Weitz, 2005, p. 278) The Clark County editor Samuel M. Scott wrote to Governor Flanagin that the “cry of poor men being obliged to fight for the rich may be heard on all sides.” (DeBlack, 2003, p.78)

Rich man’s war. Poor man’s fight.

“State of arkansas County of montgomery in the matter of my pension claim and service in the confederate army State on oath that the command that I was conscripted in to was called major Wooseleys Battallion of home gards. Bill Witcher was Captain. there was no number nor letter that I no of Arkansas Troops. This is written by my own had this 14th day of november 1896”. Pension application affidavit of Zadock P Logan.

“Zaddock P Logan who was ENROLLED on the 10 day of Sep., 1863, in Company F of the 1 Regiment of the Ark. Inf. in the War of the Rebellion, and served at least 90 days and was honorably DISCHARGED at Fort Smith, Arkansas on the 10 day of Aug, 1865. . . I was in the confederate service prior to that stated above. I was forced into confederate service about Feb, 1862 and remained there until Sep 3, 1863.” Zadock’s affidavit of Jul 12, 1902 for his pension application

Colonel Rector’s new reorganized regiment, was initially organized at Camp Johnson, on July 11, 1862, near Fort Smith, Arkansas, as the “1st Regiment, Northwest Division, Trans-Mississippi Department with 1037 men. They were also called Rector’s War Regiment, 1st Arkansas Volunteers. The regiment was originally composed of eight companies mostly from Sebastian County, with some from Yell and Perry counties. Initially Gov. Henry Massey Rector indicated that these new regiments were for home defense and would not be transferred to Confederate service without their consent. But with the redesignation into the 35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, that promise was broken. Thus, the men could easily be sent out of state and not be in a position to protect and support their families. The unit was placed in Fagan’s and A. T. Hawthorne’s Brigade, Trans-Mississippi Department.

“On Jun 17, 1862, Thomas Hindman also issued General Orders No. 17, the use of “partisan rangers,” bands of guerrillas whose purpose was ostensibly to stage hit-and-run raids on detached Federal units and harass its lines of supply. Hindman’s order gave legal sanction to a brutal and merciless guerrilla conflict that historian Daniel Sutherland has called “the real war” in Arkansas. The true legacy of General Orders No. 17 is a record of horror that rivals the more publicized–and romanticized–guerrilla war in Missouri. (Christ, 2010, p.25) ” In the last two years of the war, both major armies, jayhawkers, and bushwhackers of all varieties preyed upon the civilian population. . . In essence they all competed to see who would burn the barns, steal the livestock, waste the corn, and drive off the slaves. In the end, it mattered little to the civilians which party perpetrated the act, since the suffering was the same.” (Weitz, 2005, p.222)

In the spring of 1863 violence broke out within Confederate Arkansas. Soldiers deserted from military camps, avowed Unionist organizations appeared, and armed clashes took place between those who stated their hostility toward Confederate authorities and loyalists who continued to support the Southern cause.

Zadock’s initial enlistment in Confederate 35th Arkansas Infantry was with Capt. McCord’s company of Infantry, but not dated. Zadock’s enlistment at Fort Smith is dated July 8, 1862 in Co A of 35th AR 1 Reg’t Arkansas Infantry on a muster card dated June 12 to July 14, 1862 for 3 years. This regiment was designated at various times as 1st Regiment (Rector’s) Arkansas Infantry Northwest Division, Trans-Mississippi District; King’s Regiment Arkansas Infantry; McCord’s Regiment Arkansas Infantry, and 35th Regiment Arkansas Infantry. On the June 12 to Oct 31, 1862 muster card he is listed as present and on detached Service. He was promoted from ranks on May 26 1863. The Sept 1 to Oct 31, 1863 muster card had in the remarks; Deserted Sept 1, 1863. That same card says he was paid to Oct 30, 1863. Zadock said in his pension application he deserted Sep 3, 1863. The 35th was fighting in the battle of Bayou Fourche on Sep 10, 1863 as Zadock was joining the Union Army.

The 35th was active at Helena on 4 Jul, 1863 where it reported 57 casualties, according to the National Archives overview of the regiment. Zadock was probably in this battle because he didn’t desert until Sep 1, 1863. The battle at Helena, AR was led by Lieutenant-General Theophilus Holmes. Jefferson Davis sent the least competent commanders west of the Mississippi. Robert Kerby has described Holmes’s plan of attack as “a model of brutal irresponsibility.” The description of the battle in Christ’s book is very thorough. “The heaviest casualties were among Price’s division, victims of the slaughter pen at Graveyard Hill, and Fagan’s Arkansians at Battery D.” (Christ, 2010, p. 139) Many men deserted, “particularly in the case of Fagan’s (the 35th had been placed in Fagan’s brigade) and McRae’s brigades, two units composed primarily of Arkansians that had taken some of the heaviest casualties at Helena.” (Christ, 2010, p.146) In February 1863 Brig. Gen. William L. Cabell was given the task of cobbling together a force from the shattered remnants of Hindman’s army. It was made up of neighborhood guerrilla bands, local partisan rangers, conscript Arkansans–many of whom would have preferred to enlist in the Union army–and some homesick Texans. (Christ, 2010, p.208) “Hill’s regiment, and Woosley’s and Cawford’s battalions were raised from deserters and jayhawkers who had been lying in the mountains, and forced into service,” Cabell reported. These men deserted, but Wiley Britton wrote that “probably no one believed it was because the men of these regiments were frightened that they ran, but because they were Union men and did not wish to fire upon their friends, or be placed in a position to be shot by them.” The key to controlling the Indian Territory was holding Fort Smith. Cabell’s force was nine miles southwest of Fort Smith, on Aug 22, 1863. This is very close to Greenwood, AR where the Logans lived. “With the return of Fort Smith to Federal control, the town became a haven for Unionists, who quickly organized politically. On October, 3 they adopted a series of resolutions supporting the Lincoln administration’s policies, abolishing slavery and barring all but “Unconditional Union” men from voting in elections.” (Christ, 2010, p.223)

The muster cards for the 35th regiment have Zadock enlisting variously on Jul 8, 1862 Aug 17, 1861 for 12 months, Jul 8, 1862 for 3 yrs., and Jun 12, 1863 for 3 yrs. I believe it was Jul 8, 1862 for 3 yrs. This matches the history of the unit and his brothers, Jasper and Sylvanus, also enlisted on July 8, 1862. The Aug 17, 1861 dates was his original enlistment with the 4th Regiment and the 4th had been east of the Mississippi after the Battle of Pea Ridge on Mar 6-7, 1862. The June 12, 1862 date was the beginning date of the June 12 to July 1, 1862 muster card.

C. Sylvanus Logan, born 1841, was Zadock’s youngest brother. He also enlisted on Jul 8, 1862 at Fort Smith in the 35th AR Regiment. On the muster card dated Feb 28 to Apr 30, 1863 he was listed as absent without leave since Dec 30, 1862 in Sebastian County Ark. On the muster card dated May 1 to Aug 31, 1863 in the remarks section: Hung in Sebastian Co. July 20, 1863.

Initially the Confederate command was loathe to execute “good deserters.” If they went home to take care of their crops and families, but came back, they were forgiven. They began executing deserters to make examples of them when the desertion rate became astronomical. It was affecting the readiness of the army to fight and they had to use recruits to track down the deserters. Sylvanus was executed two weeks after the debacle at Helena and the desertion rate from Holmes’s army was extremely high.

Sylvanus’ hanging so enraged Zadock and his brothers Israel and Jasper, their brother-in-law, George Washington Walker, John Hathcock, and John T. Hathcock that they all enlisted in the Union Army on Sept 10, 1863 at Fort Smith. They were already strong Unionists against secession and this only strengthened their resolve. John Hathcock Sr. and Israel Logan were rejected by the examining surgeon. The Hathcocks [Heathcock, Haithcock] were relatives of Zadock’s sister, Milberry Logan Heathcock (1820-1857).

On Sep 1, 1863, the Union Army reoccupied Fort Smith. The Battle of Devil’s Backbone occurred on Sep 1, 1863. In the 1860 census, Zadock, his brothers Israel and Sylvanus, and their sister Mary Polly Logan Carver [married George Washington Walker in 1862], lived in Sebastian County and their Post Office was Backbone. The Hathcocks also were neighbors in Sebastian County with the Post Office of Backbone.

I will include a family story here as recounted by John Frank Logan, (1920-2017) Zadock’s last surviving grandchild.
“The five great tribes were caught up in the Civil War and suffered as much or more than their white counterparts. The Choctaw and Chickasaw had definite Southern sympathies. The Creek and Cherokee were split. Many of these battles and skirmishes were fought in Western Arkansas. Grandpa and Grandma [Delilah Marinda Wood Logan, 1835-1909] lived just South of Fort Smith, Arkansas, not far from Indian Territory. Grandpa was away during much of this period serving in the Union forces. . . Grandma Logan woke up one morning to find her little homestead right in the middle of a sizeable skirmish between two Indian forces.
She decided this was no place to be, so she quickly wrapped her small child, my Aunt Margaret [Margaret Jane Logan Loudermilk, 1860-1918], in a blanket and left hurriedly on foot. One of the Indian soldiers took a shine to the brightly colored blanket wrapped around the child and took it from grandmother. She stopped right in the middle of the ongoing battle, looked up the Indian General, and demanded her blanket back. He sent an Aide to retrieve the blanket, and again she left to depart the battle zone. Another Indian soldier with an eye to color again took the blanket. Grandmother Logan had a streak of stubbornness and she forthwith hied back to the same Indian General again demanding her blanket. This time he not only retrieved her blanket for her, but gave her a full military escort out of the battle zone. . .
Grandpa’s enlistment was an open declaration of Union sympathies, and this would mark his farmstead as an open target for Confederate reprisals. . . No one knew what to really expect from day to day, and this was the position Grandma found herself in. The populace also suffered some severely cold winters.”

Zadock and Jasper found a way to stay close to home, for good reason. They either just walked away, or deserted from a hospital.

“This is how the Civil War was fought in Arkansas: ambushes, midnight raids, often with civilians treated as combatants and neighbors turned predators.” (Sutherland, 2000, p. 133)

” In the last two years of the war, both major armies, jayhawkers, and bushwhackers of all varieties preyed upon the civilian population. . . In essence they all competed to see who would burn the barns, steal the livestock, waste the corn, and drive off the slaves. In the end, it mattered little to the civilians which party perpetrated the act, since the suffering was the same.” (Weitz, 2005, p.222)

“In September 1863, Col. William F. Cloud told his superiors that “the people come to me in the hundreds, and beg of me to stand by them and keep them from being taken by the conscript officers or from being taken to the rebel army from which they have deserted.” Many deserters brought their own weapons. . . Gen. William L. Cabell knew Arkansas had deserters running free within its borders, because many of them were his. In 1863 his unit, the First Arkansas Cavalry, attacked the Union post at Fayetteville and was beaten back. . .To add insult to injury, the force that defeated Cabell at Fayetteville, the First Arkansas, was a Union unit made of Confederate deserters.” (Weitz, 2005, p.223)

On Sep 10, 1863 Zadock P. Logan enlisted in the Company F of the 1st Arkansas Infantry of the United States Army at Fort Smith, AR. He was mustered in on Feb 26, 1864. He was present until his discharge on Aug 10, 1865. Zadock may have been in action at Mt. Ida on Nov, 13, 1863, if he wasn’t already reacting to the vaccine. From Nov 17 through Dec, 1863 he was absent sick at Ft. Smith caused by the vaccination. Zadock, Jasper, Israel, and George W. Walker all received a small pox vaccine that was contaminated in the fall of 1863. Zadock was probably in Steele’s Expedition to Camden March 23-May 3, 1864: which included Prairie D’Ann April 19-13; Moscow Apr 13; Camden Apr 15-18; Jenkins’ Ferry, Saline River; Apr 10. March to Fort Smith May 1-16. Promotion to Corp. Jun 10, 1864. Skirmish, Bates Township, Nov 2, and Newton County, Nov 15, 1864. Garrison duty at Fort Smith and escort and duty on the Frontier until Aug, 1865. Dec 1864 on detached service at Ft Smith since Nov 30, 1864. May to July ’65 he was at a Detachment of enlisted men on duty in the Provost Marshalls Office Fort Smith, Ark. These battles and dates are from the enlistment papers and muster cards of Zadock P. Logan Union Co. F 1st Regiment of Arkansas Infantry US, and the National Archives Record of Service of the Regiment.

George W. Raymond wrote in an affidavit on Jul 27, 1889 that as the Capt of Co C of the 1st Ark Regiment, “the year of 1864 in the months of April and May of said year the aforesaid claimant [Jasper N. Logan] contracted Piles by hard marching and excessive duty while on marches to Camden Ark and Little Rock and back to Fort Smith Ark. . . I was in command of the Co. . .” This was a part of the pension application of Jasper N. Logan.

Zadock first filed for a disability pension on Mar 30, 1872. In that document, they called the smallpox vaccine a syphilitic vaccine. He was treated at Bellview Ward Gen. Hosp., Fort Smith, Ark. A doctor in 1872 swore he had the symptoms of secondary syphilis. At that time, they would scratch the pustules of someone with smallpox and then use that to inoculate people. The only problem was, they would often also have syphilis, so the goal was to use the pustules of children because they would not have had the opportunity to contract syphilis. In Jasper’s pension application file is a report from the Surgeon General’s Office dated May 9, 1884. Monthly Report of Gen Hosptl Fort Smith, Ark for Dec. 1863 shows the following records, “Class I. Order II, were 39 cases of Inoculation with syphilitic virus.” Here they describe chancres and abscesses that discharge after being punctured. In January, there were ten more cases. In Zadock’s pension application the Surgeon General’s Office said, “the records of Ft. Smith Ark were destroyed when evacuation of fort in January, ’65.” The vaccine was obviously contaminated with something. A doctor in an affidavit on Nov 12, 1902 stated Zadock had never had syphilis. In different documents in Zadock’s and Jasper’s pension application files they called the vaccine syphilitic, impure, diseased, or poisonous. Since all of the brothers lived long lives, (I don’t have a record of Israel’s death) and had children born after the war who lived long lives, it probably wasn’t syphilis. Zadock’s pension was denied in 1874. He reapplied in 1880, 1892, 1893, and finally in 1902 he received a partial pension of $10 per month, and in 1905 he received a full pension of $12 per month.

References:

Christ, Mark K. (2010). Civil war Arkansas. 1863: The battle for a State. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.